What is Auriculotherapy?
Auriculotherapy is a form of acupuncture that focuses on the use of the ear as a localized reflex system connected to the central nervous system rather than the energy meridians of the body. It refers to stimulation of specific points on the auricle of the external ear for the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions in other parts of the body. Stimulation of the points can be achieved using several different methods such as: manual pressure; acupuncture needles; electrical stimulation; lasers; magnets; and ear pellets/seeds.
The history of Auriculotherapy
The earliest written records of ear acupuncture date back to the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, a compilation of acupuncture procedures that were in practice in China in 500 BC. This extensive text mentions the use of a scattered array of specific acupuncture points on the external ear for the relief of just a few health problems.
In the West, the earliest references to ear treatments can be found in medical records from ancient Egypt, Greece, and Rome. But it is in ancient Persia where the most complete descriptions of medical treatments through the ear were recorded. In fact the more modern use of auricular stimulation for treatment of sciatica back pain can be traced back from modern France through medieval Europe to these ancient Persian records!
More recently, since the 1950′s, clinical practitioners in other parts of Europe, Asia, and North and South America have been using specific ear points as a complete reflex system to alleviate many health problems. And today, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), there are 150 diseases that may be treated by auriculotherapy.
Dr Nogier, the “Father of modern Ear Acupuncture”
While the earliest uses of ear acupuncture points dates back to ancient China, modern applications of auriculotherapy are actually based on the work of a Frenchman called Dr. Paul Nogier. In fact, ear acupuncture in China only really began to advance and progress as a direct result of Dr Nogier’s discoveries – something the Chinese acknowledged and honour by describing him as the “Father of modern Ear Acupuncture”.
In the 1950′s, Dr. Nogier noticed a strange scar on the upper ear of some of his patients. He found that all of them had been treated for sciatica pain by a local lay practitioner. This woman had cauterized a specific area of the external ear in order to relieve their low back pain. Dr. Nogier conducted a similar procedure on his own sciatica patients and found that their back pain was also reduced. He then tried other means of stimulating this ‘sciatica point’, including the use of acupuncture needles, and found that they too were effective in alleviating sciatica pain. The brilliance of Dr. Nogier was in extending this one observation into a more comprehensive model. Dr. Nogier theorized that if an area of the upper external ear is effective in treating low back pain, maybe other parts of the ear could treat other parts of the body.
The Ear as a microsystem
The ear is said to represent the whole anatomical body, but in an upside down orientation (see diagram opposite) – the external ear serves as a microsystem, similar to the mappings used in reflexology and iridology. Nogier’s
theory contended that the auricle could be compared to an inverted fetus, with the head represented on the lower ear lobe, the feet at the top of the external ear, and the rest of the body in-between. This model was first presented to naturopathic practitioners in France in 1957, then spread to acupuncturists in Germany, and finally was translated into Chinese. The Chinese seemed to have adopted the inverted fetus model of ear acupuncture in 1958. Since then acceptance of auriculotherapy has grown and grown. In 1990, the Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Hiroshi Nakajima proclaimed to an international gathering that – “auricular acupuncture is probably the most developed and best documented, scientifically, of all the Microsystems of acupuncture and is the most practical and widely used.”
Remote reflexes
As with distal acupuncture points in body acupuncture, the auricular microsystem can be used to treat health conditions in distant parts of the body. Stimulating points on the ear not only has the potential to alleviate problems associated with nearby regions of the face and head but can also help pathological disorders in the chest, abdomen, lower back, and feet. According to microsystem theory, it is not that there are direct connections between the ear and the back or the ear and the foot. Rather that nerves from the ear connect to reflex centres in the brain which then send neurological reflex pathways to the spinal cord and on to the nerves going to the spine or to the foot.
The Vascular Automatic Sign (VAS) as a tool to locate and diagnose ear acupuncture points
Dr Nogier went on to notice that there was a distinct change in the amplitude and dimension of the wrist pulse when certain points on the auricle were stimulated. This consistently occurs, is repeatable and is measurable by modern equipment. Dr Nogier called it the Vascular Autonomic Sign or VAS. Being able to detect the VAS on the radial pulse of the patient’s wrist enables the practitioner to precisely determine the location of a point and whether there is a pathology in the region of the body that relates to specific points. Being able to use the VAS in diagnosis and treatment is a distinct advantage for Auriculotherapy.
Arrange Auriculotherapy for pain, stress and trauma management in Brighton & Hove
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